Skipped spawning in Northeast Arctic haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus

Skjæraasen, Jon Egil; Korsbrekke, Knut; Nilsen, Trygve; Fonn, Merete; Kjesbu, Olav Sigurd; Dingsør, Gjert Endre; Nash, Richard D.M.

doi:10.3354/meps11222

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 54 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…POFs represent an unequivocal marker of past‐spawning activity (Witthames et al ., ). For G. morhua and M. aeglefinus , POFs have a duration of >1 year post‐spawning and have been used to identify the phenomenon of skipped spawning in these species (Skjæraasen et al ., 2012 a , 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timecourse of oocyte development in saithe Pollachius virens

Skjæraasen

Devine

Godiksen

et al. 2016

Journal of Fish Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wild caught North Sea saithe Pollachius virens were monitored for growth, sex steroid profiles and oocyte development pre-spawning and measured for egg size and group fecundity during the spawning season in the laboratory. Vitellogenesis commenced in late October-early November, at a leading cohort size (C ) of c. 250 µm, after which oocytes grew rapidly in size until spawning started in February. Notably, a distinct cortical alveoli stage was virtually absent with yolk granules observed in developing oocytes at the very beginning of vitellogenesis. Little atresia was observed pre-spawning, but atretic re-absorption of remnant oocytes containing yolk granules was found in all females immediately post-spawning. As expected, concentrations of sex steroids, oestradiol-17β (females), testosterone (both sexes) and 11-ketotestosterone (both sexes), increased pre-spawning before dropping post-spawning. The present experiment provides the first validation of sex steroid levels in P. virens. Post-ovulatory follicles were visible in histological sections from female gonads 9-11 months post-spawning, but then disappeared. Spawning commenced around a C of c. 750 µm (700-800 µm). Hydrated oocytes (eggs) measured between 1·04 and 1·31 mm (mean = 1·18 mm) with decreasing sizes towards the end of spawning. The average estimated realized fecundity was c. 0·84 million eggs (median female total length, L = 60 cm). Spawning lasted from 13 February to 29 March.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timecourse of oocyte development in saithe Pollachius virens

Skjæraasen

Devine

Godiksen

et al. 2016

Journal of Fish Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is evidence that spawning omission in teleost fish is related to poor feeding or poor condition, and in some cases decreased food availability has been shown to cause gonad regression (Rideout and Rose 2006;McBride et al 2015). Skipped spawning has been documented in Atlantic Cod Gadus morhua (Skjaeraasen et al 2012) and Haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus (Skjaeraasen et al 2015) in the Northeast Arctic, and in both cases it appears to be related to fish condition and energy reserves. If skipped spawning is related to condition and energy reserves, then the proportion of skipped spawners will vary interannually, and there may be other temporal patterns in the proportion of skipped spawners related to environmental conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Northeast Arctic Haddock (Skjaeraasen et al 2015), Atlantic Cod off Newfoundland and Labrador , and spring-spawning Atlantic Herring Clupea harengus (Engelhard and Heino 2006).…”

Section: Maturity Of Deepwater Rockfishmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Differences in the proportion of skipped spawners in relation to age or length have been documented. In many species, skipped spawning appears to be more common in younger fish (Skjaeraasen et al 2012(Skjaeraasen et al , 2015. However, in some cases, skipped spawning has been found to be more common at intermediate ages or to increase with age (Rodgveller et al 2016).…”

Section: Maturity Of Deepwater Rockfishmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Maturity, Spawning Omission, and Reproductive Complexity of Deepwater Rockfish

Conrath

2017

Trans Am Fish Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reproductive parameters are critical components of stock assessment models that directly influence estimates of the stock biomass of mature females and significantly impact the determination of catch levels for many federally managed fish species. There are few data available concerning the reproductive biology of deepwater rockfish species in the Gulf of Alaska, which are suspected to have complex life histories that include viviparity, increasing productivity with age, abortive maturity, and spawning omission. The objective of this study was to examine the reproductive biology of female Shortraker Rockfish Sebastes borealis, Rougheye Rockfish S. aleutianus, and Blackspotted Rockfish S. melanostictus within the Gulf of Alaska. The reproductive development stage was examined for samples collected opportunistically throughout the year from a variety of scientific platforms and charter vessels in 2008-2014. Rougheye Rockfish and Shortraker Rockfish were found to be seasonal synchronous spawners, with the onset of development occurring in the later summer months and parturition taking place from March through May. The fork length at 50% maturity (L 50 ) was similar for Rougheye Rockfish (L 50 = 45.0 cm) and Blackspotted Rockfish (L 50 = 45.3 cm), but the age at 50% maturity (A 50 ) was younger for Rougheye Rockfish (A 50 = 19.6 years) than for Blackspotted Rockfish (A 50 = 27.4 years). The L 50 for Shortraker Rockfish was 49.9 cm, but this species could not be reliably aged. In all three species, there were individuals undergoing abortive maturity and skipped spawning. Skipped spawning rates ranged from 37.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 29.9-44.9%) for Rougheye Rockfish to 93.9% (95% CI = 90.0-97.3%) for Blackspotted Rockfish; Shortraker Rockfish had an intermediate skipped spawning rate of 60.0% (95% CI = 49.2-70.8%). The results from this study will advance our knowledge of the reproductive biology of these species and will aid in ensuring that the most appropriate data are utilized in their stock assessments.

show abstract

“…As shown here for Atlantic Herring, perceived variation in maturity can arise due to differential distributions of immature and mature individuals (e.g., as is caused by spawning migrations). For Haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus from the northeastern region of the Arctic, migrations of spawning fish outside the sampling region were shown to bias estimates of skipped spawners (Skjaeraasen et al 2015). Accurately estimating functional maturity (and/or stock reproductive potential) requires representative sampling of the population of interest; however, reproductive data and samples are often poorly measured compared with the measurements for other population parameters (Tomkiewicz et al 2003).…”

Section: Spatial Differences In Maturitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Reproductive Biology of Female Atlantic Herring in U.S. Waters: Validating Classification Schemes for Assessing the Importance of Spring and Skipped Spawning

Wuenschel

Deroba

2019

Mar Coast Fish

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Atlantic Herring Clupea harengus are iteroparous (repeat spawners) with group‐synchronous oocyte development and determinate fecundity, and they are total spawners. However, they also exhibit plasticity in other aspects of their reproductive biology including spawning seasonality and skipped spawning. Previous studies in other regions have reported skipped spawning and errors in macroscopic classifications of maturity, both of which could bias estimates of reproductive potential, but a critical assessment of these in U.S. waters is lacking. In the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, herring are assessed as a single stock complex, where females typically mature as 3 to 4 year olds and may live up to 11 years. To evaluate the magnitude of skipped spawning, we collected the ovaries of Atlantic Herring from fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent sources over multiple seasons and evaluated them histologically to assess imminent (indicated by vitellogenic or maturing oocytes) or recent spawning (evidenced by the presence of postovulatory follicles). Gonad histology allowed us to determine spawning seasonality and skipped spawning. Macroscopic maturity classification was more accurate in fall (1–4% incorrect maturity) than in spring (7% incorrect maturity). The spatial distributions of immature and mature fish from both fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent sources differed, which affected the estimation of maturity at length and age. We estimated 9–14% spring spawners in the region, but we did not find evidence of skipped spawning. The time series of the macroscopic data that were available (1987–2018) showed increases in spring spawning with latitude, but the proportions have not changed much over recent decades. The effects of up to 30% spring or skipped spawning on a stock assessment of Atlantic Herring were evaluated. Spring spawning had little effect relative to assuming 100% fall spawning (the current assumption), and skipped spawning decreased the scale of spawning stock biomass (SSB) and related reference points, with the degree of change increasing with skipped spawning rates, but it had few consequences otherwise.

show abstract

Skipped spawning in Northeast Arctic haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus

Cited by 12 publications

References 54 publications

Timecourse of oocyte development in saithe Pollachius virens

Timecourse of oocyte development in saithe Pollachius virens

Maturity, Spawning Omission, and Reproductive Complexity of Deepwater Rockfish

The Reproductive Biology of Female Atlantic Herring in U.S. Waters: Validating Classification Schemes for Assessing the Importance of Spring and Skipped Spawning

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About